First boat built by new Fairline Yachts at Oundle to roll off the line

Paul Grinnell

The first luxury boat to be built by the new Fairline Yachts at Oundle will roll off the production line on Thursday.

The boat, a Targa 48 GT, which costs about £500,000, was bought through Fairline Yachts’ London based dealership, Bates Wharf, will be ready for her new owner to enjoy this coming boating season.

Russell Currie, managing director of Fairline Yachts, at the company's factory in Oundle.

Fairline Yachts’ managing director, Russell Currie, said: “We are delighted to announce that this Thursday sees the first boat to roll off our production line since our purchase of Fairline Boats from administration at the end of January.

“This is a significant occasion and one we want to celebrate.

“We are delivering on our promise to complete all orders for boats received by the previous owners, a sign of our commitment to our loyal customer base and dealer network.

“We are building a great future for Fairline Yachts and are 100 per cent focused on creating the highest quality luxury motor yachts that boaters want to own and our dealerships around the world want to sell.”

This is a significant occasion and one we want to celebrate.

Russell Currie, managing director

The announcement comes just five weeks after crisis-hit yacht manufacturer Fairline Boats, which was founded 52 years ago, was saved when the businesses was bought by two Russian investors.

The company, with bases in Oundle, Corby and Ipswich, plunged into administration late last year with the loss of 380 jobs.

After being bought by the investors acting as Fairline Acquisitions Ltd, the company was named Fairline Yachts and which then promptly employed 100 people.

The Targa 48 GT is described as an exciting sports cruiser with exceptional engineering and a hull designed to complement the Volvo Penta IPS engines.

The company says this results in “precision handling and impeccable sea keeping”.

The lower deck has three cabins as standard and there is an optional lower saloon/dinette in lieu of the third cabin layout.